From the perspective of someone who played all the original CC games, but none of the Matrix remakes thus far, I'm really loving the new version. For me the graphics are a huge improvement and very stunning. All of the other improvements seem logical and I do like the new UI layoutl I have only a single complaint in that I also do not like the fog for the scenarios that have it.

I actually thought something was wrong with the game when I first loaded it up and the colors were all washed out... Its just too dramatic and all encompassing. Maybe this is where a 3D engine would help create more of a rolling fog effect rather than a sort of photoshopped layered effect. Perhaps just an increase in transparancy (even if just a customizable option) would assist? I don't really see that it adds much in the way of realism.. Its still just as easy to see/not see the enemy and your own forces visually. It only adds an annoyance factor and belittles the gorgeous graphics this version otherwise shines for (I do run it at max supported resolution so perhaps thats also helping it look REALLY REALLY improved to me over previous versions)..

I finally bought the game and to put it simple: this is the kind of real time strategy I was looking for (no base building, very limited resources, the feeling of desperation when losing men, 1 shot 1 kill for infantry) Ive noticed many people seem to dislike the fog. I dont have any problem with it. I think weather effects are just a + to inmersion, altough an option to turn it on/off could be best. There are many cosmetic features that would have been nice to add, (maybe in a future 3d version thats been discussed in another post) such as tanks shaking when firing and driving through different terrain, trees getting blown if you order a barrage on them, storms and rain (night battles on a stormy night would be quite amazing), dust clouds when firing at buildings that block the sight, and the roofs collapsing when under heavy fire. The way the tanks move and the passivness of the AI when attacking are two of the things that didnt amused me that much. Also the random error messages in the middle of a campaign. Other than that im reasonably happy with this my first CC game.

Well I been playing CC since CC2, and my impression of PitF is good. Call me crazy but I like the "Fog" effect. I think it would work well in "CC WaR" as I have read many accounts of how Fog effected many firefights during the "Battle of the Bulge". Also, as of right now, I have not run into any of the "error" messages during campaign play. Good "AI" in attack and defend. I am enjoying this game.

I agree. Despite the negativity concerning the AI, I think this is the best CC AI yet. In older versions, it always seemed that the enemy AI was week on the attack and often just sat there as if it didn't know what to do. In PitF it seems so far that the enemy AI is reasonably good and aggressive on attack. Still not the same as playing a real person but it is unreasonable to think any AI could truly mimic a human opponent. So far, I have enjoyed PitF very much.

Playing as Axis in my first campaign. I have found the strategic AI possibly even too aggressive, but it certainly wrecked my plans. The battle AI is still hard to judge but in a couple of battles it has given me a really tough fight. Where the AI has a very small area to deploy at the start of the battle, it is best to deploy your own troops far away to avoid an unfair massacre. Unless you like that kind of thing...

Here are a few first impressions that haven't been mentioned yet AFAICS.

- Medium-size maps, especially the ones displayed when clicking locations on the strategic map, are buggy. Tree shadows appear in wrong places. - The offensive AI is as bad as ever. As soon as I started playing, I remembered why I found a human opponent the last time around - the AI is incapable of mounting an efficient attack, even with far superior firepower :) I will have to pick an operation where I will be attacking. - On the strategic level, the AI also does weird things. I selected one of the operations (as Germany), and the first thing the Allied AI did was to move away from the Hill 314 map... This seemed so bizarre to me that I immediately went back and selected a different operation :)

As a general comment, while I absolutely love the strategic map aspect of CC games (it's a feature that makes the game way more interesting IMHO), I often find myself having no idea what strategic moves to make. I think it would be very useful to have the game help the player a little in the regard, for instance by providing "intelligence" about adversary troop movements or planned reinforcements. The existing short scenario / campaign descriptions don't really do a good job in that regard.

But other than that, kudos to the team!!!

Michal

PS. I am still hoping for an Eastern Front CC game :))))) (or Western front but a different theatre, e.g. Greece or Italy or Poland 1939)

ORIGINAL: redmarkus4 OK, well that needs fixing as my default deployment sometimes makes no sense, with guns in illogical locations, etc. I don't want a huge advantage, but I do want a fight that has some realism.

Deployment has been improved in PITF but its too complex an activity to ever be 'fixed'. Only re-deploying your AT guns wont give you a huge advantage. Re-deploying the bulk of your force will because all of the deployment 'realism' would be then in your favor.

quote:

ORIGINAL: blazej I often find myself having no idea what strategic moves to make. I think it would be very useful to have the game help the player a little in the regard, for instance by providing "intelligence" about adversary troop movements or planned reinforcements.

The game does provide intelligence during the strat phase about some enemy locations and movements. Cycle thru the Select Time arrows to see when & where (mini strat map) friendly reinforcements arrive.

In my opinion this is the best CC ever. Soldier history of action not lost when they go back into the force pool. Very god! Explosions is amazing, carrying men and towing guns and so on. Now I will se an update for the other versions of CC so we can have this nice stuffs there too.

xe5 - If you give Achtung Panzer operation Star a try you will see that it has a dynamic campaign in which the AI makes some pretty decent deployment choices - not perfect, but generally effective and requiring the player to plan carefully. Apart from the 3D nature of APOS, the overall scale is very similar to CC and I would expect much of the AI logic to be addressing the same kinds of issues in both games. Worth a look and a think.

I will expect CC3D to have much improved AI overall since there will be advanced AI plug-ins available for its engine that leverage the skills of specialists in that field. Despite any similarity in scope and scale, its somewhat apples-to-oranges comparing a modern 3D game that can utilize such middleware to an old-code 2D game.

Addressing what is rather than what should be - another solo play balance alternative is to go ahead and re-deploy but only issue movement orders in the deploy phase, and use just the Defend or Ambush commands during battle (excepting mortars and support).